


Letters from Home

by hippiefairy



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Clint is the only one actually physically in it, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Pre-Infinity War, Various characters mentioned - Freeform, mentions of Infinity War stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-15
Updated: 2017-08-15
Packaged: 2018-12-15 17:42:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11811009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hippiefairy/pseuds/hippiefairy
Summary: Clint comes back to his crappy hideout to find some letters from his family.





	Letters from Home

_Clint,_

 

_I don’t know how to do this, I don’t know how to tell you about the hell you put me through. I know you didn’t mean to, any more than I mean to hurt you with this letter, but good intentions do not change what happened or what I have to say._

 

_You were supposed to be here. You were supposed to be retired. I could understand it if Nat had needed help, if one of your friends was in deadly danger. But that wasn’t the case. You rushed headlong into a fight that had nothing to do with you and you left your family behind to do it._

 

 _Do you know how hard it is for me to understand that? And I don’t know if I can forgive it._ _We needed you here_ _._ _That_ _is what you need to understand, I feel like you abandoned us._

 

_I still want you to come home, for the kids if nothing else, but there will be conditions. You can not keep doing this to us. But we can discuss that later when we can actually talk._

 

_Tony has promised to get this packet of letters to you. I don’t know how he intends to do that but I believe he will. I don’t know what your problem with him is, but he has been nothing but kind to us. The children adore him, though that is partially because he brings them gifts from Auntie Nat._

 

_I can’t think of anything else to say, everything I want to say to you I need to say to your face. I hope I get the chance to soon._

 

_Laura_

 

_P.S. I love you, don’t think I don’t, but I am also so angry and hurt. Just take care of yourself and come home._

 

.

* * *

.

 

Clint’s hands shook slightly as he folded up the paper and placed it carefully back in it’s envelope. He wasn’t so sure he wanted to look at the four other letters carefully placed on his tiny kitchen cabinet. How someone had gotten into his apartment should’ve been the question running through his head because he’d found the letters tucked into his breadbox, but he decided to chalk it up to Stark and leave the question be. If Stark had wanted him arrested, obviously he could’ve done it. Clint sighed heavily. His opinion of Stark was constantly yo-yoing. He’d originally been angry of the way the genius had practically had Wanda under house arrest but after thinking about his own time on the Raft Clint had to, begrudgingly, admit that it was possible Stark had been trying to keep Wanda away from that type of situation. And his support of the Accords really made a lot of sense when you considered the man’s past. Besides, Clint couldn’t find it in him to really support Steve anymore either, he hadn’t really been fighting against the Accords, he’d been fighting to protect his friend. And while Clint could understand that, it wasn’t exactly what the archer had thought he was fighting for.

 

“Okay Clint, stop being a coward and open your kids’ letters” he whispered to himself finally. He picked up the letter with the sparkles and stickers on it and grinned slightly at Lila’s overuse of both.

 

.

* * *

.

 

_Daddy!!_

 

_Look at the spider stickers Auntie Nat sent me! Aren’t they great??? Cooper is helping me write because I don’t know how to spell and he does. He says he does anyway. (I know how to spell! Please tell Lila that when you write back Dad)._

 

_Daddy! Ignore Cooper! This is my letter and he’s supposed to write his own._

 

_And I don’t care what he says, I am not pouting! And I like exclamation things, they make it more exciting so I am going to use them even though he’s a big meanie and says I shouldn’t use so many._

 

_Oh Daddy! What do you think of the sparkles??? Mr. Tony sent me all different colors of glitter! I have enough to decorate my whole room but Mama says I can’t so Mr. Tony said he’d decorate a room for me at his home. A whole glitter room all for me! I’m going to visit him soon and see it._

 

_Mama says Nate is too little to write you a letter so I helped him paint you a picture instead. I hope you love it!_

 

_Love you more than anything! Except Mama of course. And Auntie Nat. And maybe Nate when he’s older, right now he drools too much._

 

_Bye Daddy!_

 

_Lila (with help from Cooper, I told him to say that, he isn’t taking over my letter again)._

 

.

* * *

.

 

Clint’s laughter was a little choked. Of course Natasha sent his little girl sparkly spider stickers with big googly eyes. And of course Lila would want a whole room decorated in glitter. Clint scrubbed at his eyes as he put Lila’s letter down and picked up the picture that accompanied it. He could tell Nate had contributed very little to the picture, he might have done the swirls of blue and white that made up the sky. But obviously Clint’s little girl had painted the large purple bird with a bow in it’s talons and a spider riding on it’s head. Clint snorted, Natasha would love that, he hoped he could show it to her eventually.

 

“I screwed up” he said “Clint Barton, you are one stupid bastard” he told himself.

 

He slowly picked up Cooper’s letter and opened it.

 

.

* * *

.

 

_Hey Dad,_

 

_Mom said I had to write you a letter so I am. But you should know, I’m mad at you, Lila spent all of her birthday crying because you were supposed to be here and weren’t. And Mom doesn’t want me to know how upset she is but I’m not blind, I can tell she’s been crying too. You need to come home and make this right. I don’t even know what that will take with Mom, but I guess Lila will probably forgive you if you just hug her, she really misses you._

 

_I guess I kind of miss you too. But it’s going to take more than a hug for me to forgive you. You should be here Dad. You shouldn’t have left._

 

_Mr. Stark invited us to visit the new Avengers’ compound and Mom thinks we need a vacation so I guess we’re going. I’m kind of looking forward to seeing some of Mr. Stark’s inventions. He’s pretty cool and he said he has a robot named Dum-E which I think is a stupid name but who cares, it’s a robot._

 

_Anyway, guess that’s it for now._

 

_Cooper_

 

_P.S. Take care of yourself._

 

.

* * *

.

 

Clint didn’t bother wiping away his tears this time. He deserved all of Cooper’s anger and disappointment and that made it hurt all the more.

 

The next letter had Nat’s elegant script on it and he squeezed his eyes shut trying to block out the images of fighting against her at the airport, it had felt all wrong, like he was betraying her. Maybe he had. Maybe her letter would be full of recriminations and anger. He wasn’t sure he could handle that after reading what the rest of his family had to say. But if he waited he might never open it and he owed her more than that.

 

.

* * *

.

 

_You better take care of yourself because, if you do something stupid and get yourself killed, I will find a way to bring you back just so I can kill you myself._

 

_Your favorite Spider._

 

.

* * *

.

 

“Seriously Nat? You just had to send me a death threat?” he snorted, glad it wasn’t the angry letter he’d expected.

 

He reached for the last letter and studied it for a second, the writing wasn’t exactly familiar but Clint would just about swear that it was Tony’s.

.

* * *

.

 

_You are such a birdbrain, but I’m sure by now you’ve read Laura and the kids’ letters and realized that. I won’t play the blame game Clint, we all made mistakes and that includes me. I’m sorry. I hated fighting against you and I don’t want to ever do that again._

 

_You need to be prepared. Something is coming. Something big and bad and ugly. We are going to need each other. We are going to need to be a lot stronger because, if what Thor says is true, what we’re facing is so much worse than Loki, Ultron, or anything else we’ve faced. We cannot do this if we cannot be a team._

 

_I’m working on getting you and all the rogue Avengers pardoned. It’s not easy and I don’t know how long it will take. But I will get it done._

 

_In the meantime, hang tight, I’m going to send you something so you can get in touch with me and vice versa._

 

_And finally. I promise you that your family will be safe. Natasha, Thor, Pepper, and Vision are helping me take care of that so… yeah. They’ll be okay._

 

_I expect you to be okay too by the way, I did use the nickname “birdbrain” affectionately after all._

 

_Tony_

 

.

* * *

.

 

The letter didn’t make it back to the cabinet it sank along with the archer to the floor.

 

“Damn you Tony” he whispered, but there was no heat to the words. He was too grateful that Tony really was taking care of his family, protecting them while Clint couldn’t. He reread the letter quickly then crumpled it in his fist as he stared blankly ahead.

 

“Another battle” he muttered “too cryptic though Tony, I have no idea what to be prepared for”.

 

He debated contacting Steve to see if he knew anything but decided it was too risky, so was getting in touch with Wanda but Clint was desperate to know if she was okay. He stood up slowly and began to pack a bag, as soon as Tony sent him whatever device he was supposed to use to contact the man, he would leave and find the girl. She would need to be prepared too and, maybe Clint couldn’t be there for anyone else right now, but he could at least protect Wanda.

 

“Or she can protect you” he said wryly, he and Wanda had had a discussion the last time they’d seen each other. She had made it clear that she didn’t appreciate being treated like a child, she was an adult, that meant he had to trust her to take care of herself because, as she said, she was just as likely to be the one protecting him as the other way around.

It also meant she had to own up to her own mistakes, she’d called him once, sobbing into the phone and apologizing for causing so much trouble. He hadn’t known how to calm her down because he hadn’t realized just how much she was really involved in the creation of Ultron. He’d been angry and trying not to show it, she didn’t need more blame at the time but they were definitely going to have a long conversation sometime in the future.

 

He finished packing, smoothing out Tony’s letter and tucking it beside the others in a secret pocket in his bag.

 

Wanda’s confession had changed something for him, allowed him to look at Tony’s side, to really think and try to understand where the other man was coming from. Clint still wasn’t there, he couldn’t agree with the Accords, at least not how they were originally written, but if compromises could be had? Then maybe. But Laura was right, he was supposed to be retired, the Accords had nothing to do with him, not really.

 

And maybe he’d sided with the wrong friend anyway, it had made so much sense to stand with Steve. But Clint wouldn’t have left his family just to fight for Bucky Barnes.

 

He sighed and shook his head. He simply didn’t know anymore, he’d landed himself in an impossible situation. The only thing he knew was that, if he fought at all, he should’ve been fighting to keep his team together. Tony was right, they needed to be a team, they needed each other. Steve and Tony were both overprotective but very different in how they went about protecting people, they balanced each other out. Left on their own? They made mistakes that were hard to come back from.

 

Whatever this new threat was, Clint would fight. But he’d be fighting to protect his family and his team. The team that he hoped would band back together. Because the Avengers were needed, but the Avengers needed each other too.

**Author's Note:**

> I love Clint but was a bit disappointed with his role in Civil War, it would've been one thing if he didn't have a family or wasn't retired... but both? What the hell Clint? Also his comment to Tony at the Raft really ticked me off. I didn't address that here but if I continue this I definitely will.
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading! :)


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